Everything Comes Back To You
by CreativitysTheName
Summary: My take on Ginny/Mike relationship from Pitch. I really love them together, especially the last episode 7x09. Spoilers if you have not seen that episode.
1. Chapter 1

**Everything Comes Back To You**

 **A Mike Lawson/Ginny Baker fic**

 **This is a little on the AU side mainly because I want to write it how I would like it versus how I think the writers are going to write it, mainly because I really don't know if they are going to make them into a thing or not. I'm a huge Ginny/Mike fan and really wanted to write a story on them especially after the last episode. I don't really have a 'summary' mainly because I am not sure exactly where I am going with it. I can say though that it won't start exactly where we are in the storyline, the 'almost kiss' didn't happen (yet) anyway. Oh & I really don't know a whole lot of baseball, so I'm so sorry in advance if I get something wrong or say something that is not accurate. Okay enough of my 'rant', I hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 1**

 **"Okay, say that again?" Oscar stared at the person in front of him bewildered that he was hearing what he was, and at such a horrible time; he sat down at the corner of his desk and his eyes growing bigger pressing his arms tighter together against his chest.**

 **Ginny stared back afraid to say what she was going to, not because she was afraid of Oscar, but due to the fact that what she was asking was not considered normal; especially because it seemed like she was asking for a favor, and it really wasn't like that….at least that was what she kept telling herself. She bit her lip before she puffed her chest to repeat herself.**

 **"Don't trade Mike; the team won't be the same without him."**

 **Oscar raised his brow and scoffed and chuckled at the same time, making Ginny even more uncomfortable about this situation, shifting where she stood but holding her ground.**

 **He shook his head "Okay so it was exactly what I heard." He put his hand up to make Ginny understand he was baffled by this request. "You know this is really out of bounds, right Baker?"**

 **Ginny nodded quickly, because she wasn't stupid, she did understand that the thing she was asking for was completely inappropriate, but she had to at least try.**

 **"So you do understand it's out of bounds, yet you are still standing in front of me asking? You see where I am going with this, right?"**

 **Ginny nodded again, breathing in before saying what she was about to next. "I think certain fans have really enjoyed the dynamic between certain people and being part of that has really made me see that has brought revenue here and has helped a…" She stopped talking when she saw his face change from shocked to what seemed like anger.**

 **"You're pulling that card? Baker, I-I really don't have time to deal with this right now…the Cubs are really…"**

 **"That's exactly why you have to think about it now. They can't take him." She stated the last bit with more emphasis.**

 **Oscar shook his head, standing up and now pacing the room.**

 **"You know you really don't want to do it either, are they really giving you that much money for him?"**

 **Oscar didn't say anything but Ginny understood that was his answer.**

 **"I'll do whatever….just keep him please?" She now sounded like a pathetic little girl asking her dad for something, but this wasn't her dad and she no longer was a little girl, which made it that much more pathetic.**

 **Oscar shot up from where he was staring at the corner of the room to stare at her, the look he was giving her scared her more than the angry one previous to this. She furrowed her brow and tried figuring out what he was thinking.**

 **"You mean that? You'll do whatever?" Oscar waved his arm and shook his head "Not like that." When he realized she was thinking it was something not appropriate. "I just could really use someone for a few events that well let's just say are pretty popular in the media right now and who better than Ginny Baker."**

 **Ginny smiled "Wait, why didn't you just ask me to do this before?" trying to guess what was so bad about this event. "It's not like there is a catch or anything, right?"**

 **Oscar looked away and then quickly back at her, seeing that her smile faltered pretty fast. He gave her a smile and sighed "Well there is just one, but its fine….I mean; I don't think it's that bad."**

 **Ginny cocked her head to the side and now was the one to cross her arms on her chest.**

 **"Well, there is this guy, and he needs a date to these events…"**

 **Ginny opened her mouth "Are you serious right now?"**

 **Oscar dropped his smile "I know, I know, it's terrible but it's not as bad as it seems."**

 **"How so, Oscar? Basically you are pimping me out to the highest bidder."**

 **He nodded "I know, but I owe him one and keep telling him I would have someone for him, and keep breaking my promise and I'm kind of running out of options at this point, Baker. You are the one who said you would do whatever to keep Lawson, is that still not how you feel?"**

 **Ginny closed her eyes and let her arms drop to her side in defeat. She had said that and she still stood by it, but this just seemed so degrading. She shook her head and nodded.**

 **"Okay, well look, he's a pretty great guy and really sweet. All you have to do is be on his arm until the events are done, that's it. He's coming out with this new app and it's like the newest most popular thing out there now."**

 **Ginny nodded again "What's his name?"**

 **"Noah Casey, I'll have all his information for you by the end of the day."**

 **"If I do this, it's for sure that Mike will stay?"**

 **Oscar nodded once "Yes, I have to convince Charlie, because he is the one pulling the strings, but I think that will be pretty easy."**

 **With that Ginny turned to leave, turning back around only when she heard Oscar clear his throat as if he was not finished.**

 **"You must really like Mike…" he saw the way Ginny's eyes became a little bit more what seemed to look like fear so he shook his head "As a teammate and friend of course, either way, thanks." He hoped to make it seem not as awkward. Ginny gave him a small smile and left.**

 **~0~**

 **Ginny had all the information not only on Noah, but on the events she had to attend with him. It seemed like there were a total of 7 of them which was a little annoying, but she knew that she has done other events for herself and they were a lot more than 7 so she could definitely manage these. Only bad thing was the first one was tomorrow, not much of a heads up. She just hoped that this Noah guy wasn't a creep.**

 **"What you got there?" Ginny jumped from Mike's voice that rang behind her. She felt even more embarrassed that she did the girliest thing possible and let out a little scream, pushing the papers face down so he couldn't read what it was.**

 **Mike and Blip both started to laugh at her face. "Whoa, sorry." He put his hands up while Blip nudged her on the side. She was used to them making fun of her, mainly for being the rookie, but she was still not used to so many guys around her and the fact that they sometimes did not respect her privacy, yes she did grow up with her annoying older brother, but because she was so interested in baseball at such a young age there was not much to hide or that he could find on her or bug her about….he still did occasionally but this was on a whole other playing field.**

 **"Ha ha, very funny, don't you have to go warm up or something?" She threw the towels had on hand at both of them, making them swerve to miss it and leave laughing.**

 **She continued staring at both of them, and saw that Mike's laugh and smile left quickly after, he had been different ever since the talk of him leaving started and she hated it. He wasn't acting like himself and that bothered her so much, she loved his annoying self and didn't want that to change, and she most definitely did not want him to leave.**

 **Her phone beeped cutting her thoughts short; when she pulled it up she noticed a number she did not know. She opened the text and saw that it read** ** _"Can't wait to meet you tonight, oh save my number."_**

 **She stared in confusion and then realized it was Noah, it had to be, but what did he mean 'tonight?' before she could figure it out she was being called into Oscar's office. He gave her a wry smile, which she obviously knew he had meant to tell her but that didn't work out very well.**

 **She pulled her phone and looked at him, then looking back at her phone.**

 **"I am assuming he contacted you about tonight?"**

 **Ginny scoffed "Oscar…"**

 **"No, I know, Ginny I'm really sorry; he just called me to tell me himself."**

 **Ginny waved him off in understanding "I get it, its fine." Even though it really wasn't, she wasn't going to ruin her chances for him to take it back.**

 **He looked to be completely relived and was thankful for her not going off on him.**

 **"Just can I get a heads up next time?"**

 **He gave her a small smile and nodded "Absolutely, I will call you before he even can you know, talk to you or…"**

 **"Okay, I get it." She laughed at him trying to figure out how to not be so awkward.**

 **~0~**

 **"What? Wait, I don't have anything on the schedule for you. No, Ginny, okay, fine I will talk to you tomorrow."**

 **Amelia looked at Eliot and sighed, placing her phone back in her pocket and looking disgruntled.**

 **"What was that all about?"**

 **Amelia shrugged "I have no idea; she said she had plans for tonight, but I don't have anything on the schedule."**

 **"You mean to tell me she is planning on living her life and didn't tell you about it?" He gasped out loud and put his hand on his chest, quickly laughing as he saw her annoyed face. "Okay, I'm sorry, but you have to admit that was funny."**

 **"Hilarious. No, I get that she is going to live her life, I just don't like to be in the dark about things especially if it's something that could—"**

 **"You can't keep her from making mistakes, but you can let her live her life as she pleases."**

 **Amelia rolled her eyes at him.**

 **~0~**

 **Ginny received instructions on where to meet Noah, but she had never heard of this restaurant before, but considering she didn't go out often due to people staring or making comments she could see why she never got to see the city. When she reached the door the hostess gave her a warm smile "Welcome Miss Baker, Mr. Casey is waiting inside."**

 **Ginny looked confused, but maybe Noah told her to say that to her, but when she entered the entire restaurant was empty making her feel even more self conscious. She had decided to wear something simple; she went with a black knee-high dress that wasn't too tight, but that fit just right and her hair was down and natural. She saw a man standing towards one of the middle tables and her heart skipped a bit, he was handsome, she had seen his photos online because of course she Googled him, but the photos were not very good at showing exactly how good-looking he was. His smile made him even more handsome and the dark jeans and t-shirt look with a black button down jacket/blazer definitely suited him. He smiled back, the hostess spoke up again clearly already stating something that she had to repeat "This way please."**

 **The hostess left after she brought her over and they stared at each other. "Wow, you are extremely beautiful…." He said continuing to stare at her, making it very intense for her. She felt herself blush a little and smile shyly back. "Thank you; you are too….I mean, good looking." She wanted to close her eyes and slap her forehead because she felt stupid, but he chuckled at her and walked over pulling her chair out for her.**

 **She gave him a smile as a thank you and sat down as instructed.**

 **They gave their order and again continued staring "So, tell me something about you Ginny. Besides what is out on the news."**

 **She scoffed "Oh that is way too much for a first date…."**

 **"Oh so it is a date?"**

 **Ginny gulped, she never got the hang of a date or whatever this was and felt silly. He laughed again at how nervous she was. "It's okay, just relax."**

 **She moved her head to the side to stare at him better and shook her head "So how about you tell me what you have on Oscar?" him telling her to relax definitely helped her calm down.**

 **He gave her a half-smile and shrugged "I don't really want to talk about Oscar."**

 **She nodded in understanding, even though she really wanted to know.**

 **They spent the hour talking about everything except what they did for a living, mainly because they both researched each other and most of what came up was what they did.**

 **They laughed at his joke; she grabbed her wine glass and took a sip before staring back at him. "This is nice."**

 **He smiled, and it was almost contagious, one of those smiles that you know is completely genuine "Dinner in an empty restaurant?"**

 **She laughed "No, this, just literally talking about anything except what I do, getting away from it for a bit. You not looking at me like I'm some sort of…I don't know, you know what I mean?"**

 **"Not one bit" making her laugh but nodding in understanding "Absolutely, I know what you mean. Sometimes it can be too much and getting away from it is the healthiest thing you can do." He shrugged.**

 **Her phone beeped interrupting them, and she saw that it was Mike. She saw her text and it read '** ** _I need to talk to you'_** **her heart started beating fast and her mind started wondering what he would need to talk about.**

 **"You okay?"**

 **She tried her hardest to smile to make it seem like she was fine, and nodded but her phone beeped once more causing her to stop mid-nod. It was another text and it read** ** _'can you meet me at Prohibition?'_**

 **She looked up to see that Noah could tell something was up "You have to go don't you?"**

 **Ginny gave him a weak smile which he returned sweetly and nodded "Go, its fine. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"**

 **She gave him a real smile this time and nodded, grabbing her stuff and heading out. The only thing on her mind right now was Mike and what he could possibly tell her.**

 **TBC….**

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed, yes, I know there isn't much Mike/Ginny this chapter, so please forgive me. I just have to kind of warm up. Let me know what you think! & as always, thank you so much for reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Is everything okay?" She asked calmly sitting down next to Mike on the barstool, placing her small handbag on her lap and giving the bartender a smile as he brought over a beer that Mike had already ordered for her. She was so nervous, as to what this conversation could be about, but Mike didn't seem sad or at least what she could tell so that definitely made her feel a little at ease.

He took a swig of his beer and nodded, giving her a smile that was so typical of Mike.

"You mind keeping me around for a while?"

Ginny could feel the smile spread quickly on her face, and she gasped, even though she kind of already knew that was going to happen, she was just waiting to see when Oscar was going to make the call. She hadn't figured it would be this soon after she spoke with him, but hey she wasn't complaining.

"You staying for real?" Ginny said with a sigh of relief and gave him a hug, but quickly let go sensing it was a just a little uncomfortable; not because of the hug, but mainly because she immediately felt nervous from his embrace.

He cleared his throat and backed away from her face to smile at her, a smile that made every single hair on the back of her neck stand on edge. She swallowed hard and pushed herself back so she was sitting completely on the chair. She grabbed her beer and held it in her hand for a second before taking a drink.

"I knew you couldn't resist leaving me."

Mike's laugh echoed through the empty bar, he had picked the perfect bar because it was small enough that most people didn't really show up at this time and it felt right for this occasion.

"Why aren't the guys here celebrating with you?"

Mike shrugged "I felt like telling you..." she could see his mind wander as he said this, and it seemed like he wanted to say more, which made her really curious but she saw his hesitation and the way he looked down at the floor. "Can I ask you a question?" He looked up and his expression was hard to read, but she nodded for him to continue.

"Where were you tonight?" He looked her up and down before he continued "You obviously came from some fancy place seeing as how you are dressed really..." He seemed to be thinking of choosing the right words carefully "well fancy" Ginny laughed at his wording "I just mean you don't look like you were home doing laundry." She could see him still eyeing her dress and trying his hardest to not keep staring at the lining of where her dress cut off her breasts or where it rode up to where she was sitting exposing her milky thigh. He looked away before it was completely obvious he was checking her out.

"Meh, it was nothing. Just out on a work thing." Technically she wasn't lying, but why didn't she just tell him it was a date, he wouldn't question what she was doing on a date, maybe who but that wasn't a big deal. He wouldn't find out she made this deal to keep him, so it didn't seem like such a huge thing, but she could see it in his eyes that he didn't really believe her.

He nodded regardless and took a big gulp this time, placing his beer down and nodding at the bartender to bring him another one.

"I am really glad you aren't leaving, I don't know what I would do without you."

He laughed and shrugged "I am pretty badass, aren't I? I would miss the hell out of you, though..." He rolled his eyes as Ginny widened her eyes, in a playful manner "Oh shut up, I mean it, just because I don't say it often doesn't mean I don't feel it. Don't tell the other guys, though."

She chuckled and they talked for what felt like forever, but only an hour went by.

She laughed at his joke that he would be kicking some ass in the next game and saw his little smile underneath his new beer "How many have you had?" She looked to see his smile was still there and his face started to contort as if he was on the binge of being a little on the tipsy side.

He looked down at the beer on the table and the one he had "I have no idea, I was waiting for you and then...well I don't know." She grabbed the beer out of his hands and placed it down. Putting cash on the table "Okay, well that is my cue to get you out of here." The bartender looked at her as if saying if she needed any help given that Mike was a pretty big guy, but she knew she could handle it.

The Uber drove them to Mike's place and before she knew it she was escorting him in and helping him take his shoes off. He had said some inappropriate jokes, but it hadn't bothered her mainly because he was drunk but because he was a guy and she had had her share of stupid things guys say when they are drunk from her brother.

She hadn't realized this was her first time in Mike's place, it was nice, way too big for one person and way too clean for a guy, knowing full well that he had hired help and that's why it looked this good. She inhaled what smelt like vanilla and coconut and closed her eyes, it was intoxicating and made her wonder if that was how he got women to sleep with him so easily when he brought them home. She laughed as Mike groaned loudly on the couch, and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her down to sit on top of him.

"Whoa, okay, hands off Lawson." He was definitely stronger than she was and the next thing she knew he was trying to kiss her on the neck and placing his hands in some areas that were not meant for hands to go unless you truly wanted them to be there. She closed her eyes and accidentally let out a soft moan as he kissed her behind her ear, opening them so fast and pushing him back a little "Okay, Mike, you need to-"

"Shhh" He put his finger on her lips to stop her from talking "you know how beautiful you are?" Ginny could feel her face flushing and thought how stupid it was she was getting this nervous when it wasn't really Mike talking, it was his drunk self, and yes she knew that people mostly told the truth when they were drunk, but she couldn't really think about that right now. She had to get him to bed and had to get him to stop touching her.

"Okay, let's get you some water and Advil." She was thankful he started groaning and mumbling that he was going to throw up because she was able to get free from his grasp and somehow she managed to get him into his bed while helping him take his shirt off and trying not to stare.

All was done successfully and she was glad that he was finally there, she whispered that she would be by in the morning to check on him.

She exited his room and sighed, pushing her hair back that now became a little frizzy from all the movement and pushing Mike around. She closed her eyes and could feel her heart was still beating from the way Mike stared at her. She shook her head, trying not to think about it and walking away.

~0~

"Good morning sleepy head." She said with a huge smile on her face as she held the coffee out in front of him, and was met with an annoyed look on his face that was also hung over as well. He grabbed onto his head and closed his eyes.

He grabbed the coffee and Ginny pushed past to enter, not giving him enough time to kick her out.

"How did you sleep?"

Ginny could see from the way he was staring at her, he was trying to figure out what happened last night, it was almost entertaining, and she definitely wasn't going to tell him about the couch and what was said. She didn't need to embarrass him any more than he clearly was, but a part of her really did want to see where it would go if she told him what he had said.

He groaned loudly, and walked over to the kitchen counter "You got me home, right? I didn't imagine that."

She chuckled and nodded "Yeah, you were pretty drunk, but it was news to celebrate so don't worry I was almost just as drunk as you were, I just can handle my liquor."

She saw the way he gave her a stern look as if she was lying and she laughed right back at him because she was the worst at drinking, she had had 3 beers less than him, clearly why she wasn't drunk.

He took a quick sip of his coffee and sighed "It's my day off and can you believe I have to go to an uppity event tonight?"

Ginny shot up and stared at him, hoping he wasn't talking about the gala that she had to go to.

"Wha-what event?" She pretended to be interested in her lid of coffee so she wasn't obvious when he would tell her.

"The Fall Gala, the one where they raise money for that donation for those rich spoon-fed guys."

'Shit' her mind started racing, how was she going to explain that she would be there too and she was going with one of those 'rich spoon-fed guys'. She really didn't want to have to lie to Mike.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Wow, thanks guys! I am so happy you love it. I love them together and am going to continue teasing here and there, so hope you love it. Thanks again and thank you for even taking the time to read it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Come in Baker." Oscar opened the door and gave her smile which she did not return. Instead, she walked in and plopped herself down on the chair, crossing her legs and arms at the same time, staring at him with a stern look as he approached the desk. Ginny knew that Oscar was intimidated by her, though he would never admit it.

"Word is you invited Mike to the Gala..." Ginny didn't wait for him to respond "How am I supposed to go to this thing with Noah with Mike there?"

Oscar opened his mouth and then scoffed "Look, Ginny, it wasn't my idea for him to go, but there are really high hitters out there; no pun intended" He laughed at his own joke which didn't elicit any response from Ginny so he continued "I didn't ask him, Charlie did if you must know but I do agree with him on having Mike go. People love him and he has always been great at donating to charities like this, therefore it's good press all around."

Ginny scoffed "Oscar..."

"No, I get it, trust me, Baker, I do, there is nothing I can do, though, I'm sorry, Mike is going end of story." He did not make eye contact with her, however, deciding against it which irritated her more so she stood up, walking out the door without saying anything else.

"Whoa, hey Ginny." Blip interrupted her thoughts as he bumped into her, he saw that she had come from Oscar's office and she really didn't want him questioning her right now, so she smiled as best as she could and nodded.

"Isn't today your day off?" She nodded once more with a short and quiet 'Yup' to go with it. He furrowed his brow and nudged her side as he always did to get her to open up more. "Oh, Amelia said to meet her upstairs."

She looked at him this time with interest. He shrugged when he saw she was going to question him about it and left before she could ask him anything else. She groaned, she really didn't need to have Amelia up in her business about this, but she was her publicist maybe it was best she was in on it.

She saw her standing by the window staring out into the field, she looked to be deep in thought. "You needed to see me?" Ginny spoke quickly, getting Amelia's attention which made her jump a little but smile as soon as she saw who it was.

"Ginny, hey, yes. I have your dress all ready for you, but before you can see it, how come I didn't know about this little event you have going on?"

Ginny looked at the black bag that was placed neatly on the chair next to her and wondered how it looked, as tomboy as she has she always loved dresses and dressing up to go places, but even with the excitement about this event, her mind was elsewhere; particularly on a bearded someone.

She shrugged "I guess it just seemed silly, I'm going as someone's date." Ginny finally admitted and she could see Amelia looked upset but interested. "I know, I'm sorry I didn't tell you it was just so last minute."

Amelia was now the one to shrug "I guess you won't always tell me everything, but this is pretty important, this is one of the biggest events of this year, some of the biggest and most important people will be there Ginny, and if you were invited than we have to go over some rules."

Ginny put her hand out to stop her from going any further "No, Amelia please I really don't need 'the rules', okay? I just kind of want to get this over with if I'm being quite honest."

Amelia now looked confused but saw that Ginny didn't want to talk about it. "Okay, well do you want to see it?" Amelia sighed before going over to the bag and now finally seeing Ginny's face get excited from opening it up and smiling as soon as she saw her face, one that sparkled.

"I'm assuming that means you like it?"

The dress was probably the prettiest thing Ginny's seen in a while, it was way too fancy for her taste, but it was still honestly the most beautiful dress ever. It was red and looked to be made of silk, but clearly wasn't. She walked over to it and stared in awe. "This is, wow...I'm speechless Amelia. This is gorgeous."

Amelia raised her brow and shrugged as if it was nothing "you know me? I got your back, even when you decide to not tell me things."

Ginny rolled her eyes but laughed at Amelia's little grin. "Thank you," Ginny said after a few seconds of silence. "I'll wear it with pride."

"You better, this thing was just incredibly difficult to get. Now, who is this man that is taking my little Ginny out?"

Ginny chuckled and shook her head, putting the dress down as delicately as she could as if it was a baby. She walked over to the window and stared out, this view always kind of took her breath away. She looked back at Amelia and could see the interest behind her eyes.

"He's this techy sort of nerd guy. He creates apps." Ginny smiled and saw that Amelia did not look impressed "He better be hot as hell." Ginny scoffed and they both laughed, taking the rest of the hour to talk girl-talk and discuss what to say and not to say if certain things came up. Ginny decided best on not telling Amelia that Mike was going to go and what she did in order to be where she was and why she was even going to this place. It was weird, Amelia had become more of a friend than her publicist and she hated having to lie but she couldn't tell her, especially with everything going on.

~0~

She stared at herself in the mirror, this being her 10th time standing in a different direction to make sure she looked just right. She was nervous and she could feel it throughout her body. She let her hair down and natural, she just couldn't find a way to make it look perfect and her makeup was just not exactly helping either. She closed her eyes but the doorbell made her quickly open and look at herself once more before finally sighing and retreating to open the door.

Noah stared back at her, his face made her instantly blush, he looked at her up and down and his mouth hung open. "Wow." He didn't say anything else but that one word definitely reassured her and she knew that she had just been overthinking it; at least she hoped.

"You don't look bad yourself." She gave him a smile and he held his hand out for her to take. She did and he led her out to the limousine that awaited them. "That's for us?" She stared shocked, but she felt a little silly given that this guy was basically a millionaire and she wasn't doing bad herself in the money department, she was just not used to fancy things. He seemed to be thinking the same as she was because he laughed and nodded "Of course it is." He opened the door for her, even though the driver was already there and gave him a wink which the guy just rolled his eyes and walked away to the driver's side.

Noah got in and sat right next to her, making her even more intimidated by this whole situation. He was really attractive she would give him that, but she was distracted by the thought of Mike and yes, she knew that wasn't a good thing to be thinking about another guy right now especially with the looks that Noah was giving her, but she couldn't help it. She hated that Mike took up most of her thoughts, and she continued to try to let them go.

He had texted her earlier that day with a selfie saying 'This blows' as he showed off the tux on the bed and his tongue sticking out from the side. She laughed and hated how much she depended on him, not just in the game but outside of it.

Her mind returned to the night in front of her, this was definitely going to be interesting, to say the least, but as they arrived her eyes grew wider. It was really fancy and she could see really important people that were already there including George Clooney, which she definitely wasn't expecting to see a celebrity this quick into the night. She felt really out of her elements and all she thought was that she wished she saw Mike, but then again she really didn't want that to happen because she wasn't sure how that was going to go. Maybe she wouldn't see him at all.

Noah put his arm out for her to link her arm and she did, giving him a smile and walking with him inside. She already had a few heads turn their way when she entered and she wasn't sure if they were staring at her, at Noah or at the two of them together.

"It's you by the way." Noah leaned in and whispered. She looked up and saw him smiling back at her "They aren't looking at me. How could they when you are standing with me, did I tell you how beautiful you look?"

She licked her lips and inhaled, giving him a small smile and shaking her head, but before she could say or do anything else, her eyes landed quickly on Mike's a few feet away from her. He hadn't seen her yet, and she was tempted to pull Noah in the other direction, but that would look super suspicious and she really didn't want to draw any more attention to anyone at this point. Instead, she let it ride out the way it was supposed to.

Mike was saying hi to a few people and then turned to grab a tall blonde's hand, she looked to be about 21, fresh out of college and most definitely a gold-digger. Ginny's heart dropped when she saw him flirting with her and she shook her head, getting angry with herself because she in fact was jealous, how the hell was the possible? It wasn't like she liked Mike like that. She really wanted to leave, but Noah was stuck saying hi to some corporate guy that he introduced Ginny to who for the life of Ginny she could not remember his name already because she was still too busy staring at the blonde bimbo drooling on Mike's arm.

She took her head away when she saw that Mike had noticed Ginny and Noah. She saw the way he looked from Ginny to Noah and back. She locked eyes with him and gave him a smile with a soft wave of her hand. She mouthed 'hi' to him and he nodded back but seemed upset, or annoyed she couldn't pinpoint exactly what his grumpiness was today.

'Shit' she saw him walking over to them and her heart started to pound, she continued staring at him and saw the way he looked at her up and down at the dress and then landing back on her face, she could see he was trying to cover up that he was looking at her like that but once again failed miserably.

2 more steps and he was finally in front of them, Noah looked surprised that Mike was standing right there and had a huge smile on his face.

"Wow, if it isn't Mike Lawson. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm a huge fan." She could tell that Noah seemed nervous, but that he might have been lying when he said fan because Noah had mentioned to her on their 'date' that he hated any type of sport. She just thought it was kind of funny he was acting this way, it was as if he was starstruck.

Mike smiled but it quickly went away, Ginny gave him a smile back but could feel the palpable tension just standing on all of its edges.

Noah put his hand out to shake it, which Ginny was kind of afraid that he wouldn't take it, but she knew that Mike wasn't going to be rude to him in front of people. He shook his hand and nodded "Thanks, man, and you are?"

Noah looked a little offended that Mike didn't know who he was. "I'm Noah Casey, I created that." He pointed at the screen in front of them, with these characters bouncing off the walls, which totally suited Noah. Ginny giggled and everyone looked at her. Noah smiled at her "What?"

She shrugged "It's cute."

"This is Lauren." Mike interrupted and cleared his throat.

Noah smiled and shook her hand, while Ginny just nodded a smile, trying her hardest not to judge or say anything bad. She could see that Mike saw it in her eyes, so he turned his attention back to Noah.

The blonde rolled her eyes and whispered something to Mike. "We better get our seats."

Ginny nodded but could see that Mike wanted so badly to say something else.

"Wow, I can't believe I just met THE Mike Lawson."

"I thought you said you hated sports?"

Noah scoffed "Ginny, you don't have to like sports to know who THE Mike Lawson is."

Ginny laughed "Oh my god, let's get our seats."

They found their seats, which subsequently were right across from Mike and Lauren. 'Great' Ginny couldn't help but think and saw that Mike looked to be thinking the same thing.

They started announcing the commentator to start off the event, and it was just as boring as Ginny thought, they spent the first 30 minutes explaining their software and what they were planning to do with it, and how donations were the most important. Blah, blah, blah. Every so often she would look over at Mike and see him staring their way but quickly look away as if he was caught doing something bad. She couldn't help but feel protected like he was protecting her; there was just a feeling and for whatever reason, it was she liked it.

She was just happy when they finally said that there was a break so she could go to the ladies room. She almost said "Hallelujah" out loud but thought best to not do that in front of these people. She turned to look over at Mike's table but he wasn't sitting down. "Did you need me to go with?" She looked at him as if he was serious and he laughed "I'm kidding, but seriously don't get lost, oh and whatever you do, do not talk to Mr. Gasper, he will literally bore you to death...I'm serious."

Ginny laughed and gave him a pat on the shoulder. A few eyes were on her as she got closer to the bathroom and groaned when she saw the line was ridiculously long. A few girls looked her way and rolled their eyes, which made her want to roll them back at them, but she once again thought better of something like that.

"Psst." She looked around to see where that was coming from and to see if it was directed at her. "Baker, get your ass over here." She finally saw where it was coming from and saw Mike's grinning face looking back at him. He was standing by the door of the men's bathroom and held out the door to let her through.

"It's fine, get in." He said, noticing she was staring at him as if he was crazy, he shook his head "Do you need to use the bathroom or not?"

She looked around and saw that no one was around and walked in.

"How did you manage this?" She heard the lock click and saw his grinning face still plastered on. She rolled her eyes this time. "You aren't going to tell me huh?"

He shook his head "Go."

She shook her head back at him "I can't with you standing there."

He laughed "What?"

"I really didn't even need to go, I just needed to get away."

Mike nodded, she could tell that he had a lot on his mind "What?" he asked, looking as if he didn't know what she was getting at.

"What is it? Like you aren't going to tell me anyway?"

Mike just shrugged "Why did you not tell me you were coming to this when I told you today?"

She stared at him and could feel all the lies she could try and come up with, but her heart started beating at the way he was staring at her.

"I don't know, I knew you would think it was stupid that I came and with one of those 'rich' people that you bagged on so much."

"Nah, I don't believe you, but while we are on that subject, what do you see in that geek anyway?"

Ginny gasped "Oh my gosh, you are really going to bag on my date when your date is the epitome of gold-digger dumb blonde? Oh, and might I add she is super rude?"

Mike opened his mouth in awe "Wow, don't hold back Baker."

"I never do."

They stared at each other in silence and she could feel the amount of tension that was sitting there. She hated it because she couldn't tell what it was, and if it was only her that felt it, but god the way he was staring at her made her knees almost buckle.

"That's one hell of a dress, Baker."

"I should go..." She said, but quickly stopped when the knock came at the door.

"Hey, I need to go man." The person behind the door said quickly. Mike looked annoyed, she could tell he wasn't done with this and wanted to continue saying it whatever it was he had to say.

She walked to the door and unlocked it, passing him and feeling his hand pass hers ever so softly and the electricity shot right through her. She saw his face and could tell he felt it too. She opened the door and the guy looked shocked that she came out of it. She gave him a quick smile and walked out but not before giving Mike one last look.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Okay, so I couldn't help but put the next chapter up. I kind of already had it worked out in my mind where I wanted it to go. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading and reviewing. You guys are so sweet.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Like I said, mami, I got you. Why do you stress so much?" Livan liked to constantly tell her that and today was no different. She liked him, he was nice and funny but he was no Mike Lawson, and it seemed like he was late today so therefore she had to warm up with Livan. She kept staring at the door hoping that Mike would just pop out of it and play this game with her, but it just kept stressing her out hence the situation she was in staring at Livan with an annoyed expression.

"You're going to get frown lines, and you are too linda for that."

Ginny rolled her eyes and chuckled at his comment, she knew linda meant she was pretty. She sighed, throwing him the ball, but it missed him completely seeing that he was not impressed by her throw.

"How about we go run for a while?" He interrupted her thoughts hoping that would ease her stress and she nodded, following him out to run the stairs on the field.

After what felt like the millionth mile she put her hands on her hips and heaved. "I need a minute" Livan stopped next to her and placed his back on one of the seats, allowing himself to sit but not all the way. She could see him eyeing her while panting and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

She too dabbed at her forehead feeling the amount of sweat that she had produced from just 20 minutes. "What?" Ginny said, finally breaking the silence seeing as how she couldn't deal with his annoying stare any longer. He just shrugged which irritated her more. She stood up straight and saw that he had a smile on his face and exhaled.

"You worried about today's game?"

If only he knew it had nothing to do with the game so much as it had everything to do with Mike. He hadn't called or texted her which wasn't like him at all, and this is exactly what she was hating, she was getting way too attached to him for more than one reason and it wasn't healthy. Now she was worried that he wasn't in today, and she was acting like an anxious girlfriend and that was not the case. She shook her head at his question because it was the truth, but she sensed he wanted to hear more than that.

"Mike was supposed to be here..." She finally said she wanted, to be honest, well technically half-honest.

He nodded, and she could see him eyeing her as if it was going somewhere else. "You depend too much on him, that's what I am here for."

She shook her head, giving him a smile, but knowing he was 100% accurate. She did completely depend on Mike and now that they were not going to trade him, she felt like that was going to intensify and she wasn't sure she could deal with that right now.

Her phone beeped and she grabbed it quickly staring at it, but sighing as she noticed it wasn't Mike; instead it was Noah. He had made a cartoon character of himself, with little hearts and him saving her from a monster which he had made into one of the donors they had met last night. She laughed and looked up to see Livan was staring interestedly on what was on the phone.

She pulled it away so he couldn't see and she put her finger up to him "My eyes only, muchacho." He chuckled "want to race to the top?" He shoved her softly and ran first laughing as he saw her stunned face "That's cheating!" She yelled after him and ran after him.

~0~

"Whatever, that was so not fair," Ginny said, shoving Livan harder than he had done to her a little bit ago.

Ginny stopped when she looked up to see Mike standing by his cubby, and he had looked over at them quickly, allowing just enough for her to look at his face. He turned around to continue doing what he had been. She could see that Livan had been looking where she was, she gave him a smile and walked over to her cubby.

"Those flowers came for you." Mike finally spoke, but still not staring at her. She saw in the direction he nodded towards and got a few 'oooh's' from the guys.

"Who are they from?" Blip said, walking with Ginny to the flowers.

"None of your business." She said, grabbing the card and staring at the design. It was definitely from Noah, the way he wrote her name was totally an indicator that it was from him. "Whoa, fancy," Blip said looking down at the card as she had picked it up.

"It's from her boyfriend," Mike said, still continuing to look at his items and taking a sip of water but not looking over at where Ginny was. She narrowed her eyes and wanted to ask him what his issue was, but she knew that she couldn't very well do that here.

"Boyfriend? When the hell did you get a boyfriend and why am I hearing about this now?" Blip said, staring at her with the most offended face ever, making Ginny giggle and shove his shoulder lightly.

"I don't have a boyfriend, it's from this guy...and no I don't want to talk about it." She looked around the room, most of the guys had stupid grins on their faces, some looked disappointed and Mike...well he wouldn't even look her way so who the hell knows what he was thinking or doing with his face. She pointed at Blip "That goes for you especially, got it?"

Blip pouted and shrugged "meh, I'll just get the info from Evelyn..." He jumped away from her attempt at hitting him again. She laughed at his face and turned her attention back to the card, sighing because she knew that Noah was starting to like her more and she wasn't sure it was mutual. Especially considering...well considering a certain guy who won't be named.

She turned and saw that Mike was gone, she knew his routine so she followed to where she knew he would be. She opened the door and sure enough there he was, ready for the therapist to move his muscles, she smiled at him and gave him a nod to indicate she needed the room. He obliged and saw that Mike sighed loudly "Matt, come on, I need to get this quickly so I can warm up."

"Well considering you weren't here an hour ago like you were supposed to be, I'm sure that you really don't need to warm up."

Mike pulled the towel off his head and saw Ginny staring back at him, with her arms crossed and a pissed off face plastered on her face. He sighed once more and sat up to look at her better.

"I'm not allowed to set my own schedule?"

"Not when you were supposed to warm up to me...with the team." She groaned "where were you?"

Mike was now the one to narrow his eyes and she could tell he was looking for the right words to speak at this moment. "Ginny, there was a very good reason I didn't come to warm up with you, and I think you know what that is, so please don't make me say it." He didn't stare at her and she saw something in Mike she had never seen before, he looked a little afraid or nervous, she couldn't really pinpoint what it was exactly, but she most definitely had never seen that on him before. It made her stiffen up and she could feel the muscles start to knot on her back.

"Look, I just think it's best if we just maybe table this and continue to be teammates as best as we can..." He said, still not looking at her.

She scoffed "What? That's not really your call." She stopped when she saw him shift in his position and he shook his head, standing up now completely and making Ginny freeze, even more, feeling the nerves shoot up her whole body. She couldn't help but stare at the muscles that pushed past his shirt or the way his beard was so perfect today. She closed her eyes quickly and looked back up to his eyes.

"This" he waved back and forth between them "you and me, whatever the hell it is...it cannot happen, I know better and when I'm with you." He stopped talking and exhaled loudly "It's hard to stop these thoughts that keep coming back to me, and I'm not exactly the person that opens up about my feelings so I just think it's best if we don't spend any time together outside of the field."

Ginny stared shocked, and it felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. Not spending any time with Mike? That was something she couldn't imagine, it had been that way for over 3 months, and she really didn't want to go back to not having him constantly in her life.

"I'm sorry, Ginny, I really am." He could see the hurt in her eyes which she could tell that he felt that too. "It's just safer this way, you and I would be destructive. You can come up to me and talk about the game, but not while we are alone...let's just leave it as is, okay? Concentrate on that boyfriend of yours."

Ginny scoffed and shook her head before leaving him standing there. She couldn't say anything, or at least her body wouldn't allow her to do so. What the hell was she supposed to say after he said that? He wanted nothing to do with her, even as friends and that hurt more than anything. She knew that he had his reasons and she could see part of what he meant, but it hurt regardless and the thought of him not being there even if she wanted to just talk...that was the worst of it all. She felt the tears start to build and shook her head to stop them from completely falling. She closed her eyes and went back to continue warming up with Livan.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Thank you for continuing to read my story and following, reviewing and putting it as your favorite. It means the world, hope you liked this chapter. Let me know if there is anything you would like. Thanks again!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

She had spent the rest of the day trying her hardest to avoid Mike as best as she could, she couldn't let anyone, especially the team know that something had gone down with them; if anyone found out that she was as hurt as she was because Mike basically rejected her, well they would never let her live it down and it would be all over the media that the poor little girl couldn't handle her feelings. She knew it would spin out of control and she hated being a woman in today's society, it was hard enough to be accepted as one of the guy's, but then to 'fall' for one...well she just couldn't think of what people would say.

She luckily only had to really deal with Mike when it came to the game, which is what he wanted anyway. She could tell he was upset about this whole thing, but it didn't excuse him from taking her out of his life completely.

"Hell yes, man, how about it, beers on us, everyone," Jack said smiling and getting high-fives from some of the other players. They had won that game and everyone was in a good mood...well mostly everyone.

Blip grabbed Ginny by the shoulders and pressed softly "How about it Gin, let's go celebrate?"

Ginny could see Mike was paying attention, she knew he was probably going to go seeing as how he was trying to see if she was going to go. She tilted her head to the side and smiled at Blip. "Sure, I'll go." She could see that Mike was not too happy about that considering his head dropped down to the bottom of the cubby, pretending to grab something.

She knew she was playing a dangerous game, she understood that Mike was going to continue being this way and avoiding her at all costs, but she wasn't going to change how she was just because he couldn't handle his feelings.

~0~

"Man Ginny, you smoked the hell outta that game," Blip said passing over the beer that the waitress had brought over to their table. Mike had been sitting across from Ginny, and it was getting her really angry that he wasn't even making eye contact or even acknowledging her presence. The guys agreed with Blip's comment and even did a 'cheers' tapping their glasses together, of course with the exception of Mike.

"What's with you tonight?" Blip said out loud directing it to Mike, making a few of the guy's chuckle.

Mike just shrugged "I'm just tired." he lied and continued to sip his beer.

Ginny knew that she wasn't feeling like herself tonight and she thought about going home a few times seeing as how she was already on her 3rd beer and she started to feel it, that was when she knew it wasn't a good idea to have her 4th, but she still accepted it. The music started getting louder for the later groupie's that liked to dance. She wanted to yell at Mike and tell him off, but they guys were still sober and it most definitely would not go over well if she did start to go off on him. A few of the guys left seeing as it was already starting to get late, the only remaining ones were Blip, Mike, and Jack.

"I'm going to go dance, anyone wants to come?" Ginny stood up, feeling a little headed, getting a few "Whoa's" from Jack "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Blip said, holding her up and getting an eye roll from Ginny.

"You guys are lame." She said, pushing past Blip, she could see from the corner of her eye as she turned towards the dance floor that all Jack & Blip were looking at her.

She started to dance and felt her dizziness intensify but for some reason she liked it. She never was out of control with drinking, but she was so angry with Mike and everything was starting to crumble that it felt like the perfect occasion to binge-drink. She could see that Mike was staring at her finally, but she continued dancing and ignored him.

Hands started groping in areas that were definitely not okay unless she said it was okay and she looked to see it was a random guy trying to dance with her. She smiled at him but pushed him off quietly mumbling "No, not today buddy" but the hands continued to roam freely. "Stop," She said a little louder and was pushed to the side, she could hear yelling behind her but she was so dizzy that she wasn't sure what was going on.

She felt arms wrap around her back and she was escorted out when she looked up to the person holding her it was Blip. "You okay?" He said, but she felt like she was in a dream, she was so incredibly sick to her stomach she knew any minute now she would barf all over the place. "I need to go home." She groaned, putting her hand on her stomach and the other one on her mouth.

She heard a second voice and then a third but wasn't paying attention, the only thing she got out of the conversation was "I got her, no, no it's fine." Everything went black after that.

~0~

She opened her eyes to a throbbing headache and a really horrible stomachache as if she had been throwing up all night, but she could not recall anything that had gone down the night before.

Ginny looked around and started panicking, she wasn't in her home, this wasn't her bed and when she looked down at her body she was in clothes that were not her own. She was about to scream when she noticed a picture that she had seen before and this room was starting to look familiar. She exhaled from relief as she noticed it was Mike's room...but did that mean they had had sex? No, right? He obviously wouldn't have given her that speech had he been planning on having sex with her, especially when she was unconscious and not be able to remember it.

She saw a note that read 'Drink me' and a glass filled with some sort of weird concoction, which smelled disgusting and tasted even worse. She took the Advil that were also sitting there for her.

She heard pans moving and soft blues music coming from outside the door. She got up and had to steady herself before falling standing straight. She was thankful he had a full-sized mirror for her to look at herself and adjust her hair that looked a hot mess. Her smile appeared pretty quickly when she saw the shirt she had on, it was his Padres sweatshirt, definitely 2 sizes too big on her, but she liked it. She shook her head from the thoughts that went through her mind and exited the bedroom.

The music grew louder as she noticed it was coming from the kitchen. She saw him cooking away and nodding his head to the soft beat. She once again couldn't help but smile. She cleared her throat and saw the way he jumped but sighed when he saw it was her. He looked away as if he was embarrassed, but she definitely should be the one who was embarrassed.

"How do you feel?" He finally spoke, looking at her and not hiding the fact that he looked down at her exposed legs. She would have put her clothes on but she didn't see them anywhere in the bedroom. She shrugged but could feel her face flush at the way he had looked at her. "I'm okay, feeling a lot hungover. How much did I have to drink?"

He didn't say anything, instead walking over to grab a plate out of the cabinet and nodding his head towards the table, she walked over and sat down. The food smelled really good, but she was still a little queasy so the different aromas were giving her a swirling sensation in her belly.

He put the plate down in front of her, placing egg whites, bacon, toast and orange juice in front of her, topping it off with a bowl of fruit and mug of coffee.

She stared at everything in front of her, waiting to be told to eat even though she knew that wasn't the case. He didn't look at her but nodded once more. "Dig in, you must be hungry."

She did as she was told seeing as how as soon as he said that she was starving. Everything was delicious, she was quite impressed by him.

"Who knew Mike Lawson could cook."

He smiled but it quickly went away, she could see he had something on his mind but wasn't sure if he should say it or not.

"Are you going to tell me what happened last night or should I just assume?" She could tell that he really didn't want to talk about last night, but she needed to know how embarrassed she should be.

He sighed "Baker..."

"Look before you continue, I'm really sorry." She finally had his attention he was staring at her and not looking away right after. "I know you said you didn't want to be alone pretty much ever and this is exactly the opposite of your wishes so I'm sorry about that, I hope I didn't impose too much upon you."

Mike nodded in understanding the way he usually did, he took a sip of his water and looked to be deciding his words carefully. "You got pretty drunk last night, a guy started touching you, you said stop and he didn't, Blip stopped him and took you outside, he didn't think you should be alone at home, but he knew going to his place wasn't an option because of the twins so we thought it would best to come to my place considering I live alone. You threw up all over your clothes, so I put them in the wash and gave you my sweatshirt and shorts to put on...seeing as how that was the only clothes I had that would actually fit you a little bit better than anything else I had...and here we are."

Ginny eyed him carefully, he looked away finally breaking the eye contact and stood up to put his plate away. "We have to be at practice in like 15 minutes, I can drive you. I'll get your clothes, you can dress in my room."

He walked away, leaving her in her thoughts, to process everything. She was mortified, but she wasn't sure what to think.

~0~

The car ride wasn't awkward like she was thinking it was going to be, and aside from him not allowing to change the radio station and acting a little like he used to with her, it was back to him being completely quiet. They got there pretty quickly which she hated because as much as it was annoying he wasn't talking to her, the fact that they were alone and she got to spend a little time with him...well that was good enough for her.

He left to get to his therapist, so she decided to find Blip and thank him for what he did. She spotted him in the corner talking to Omar.

"Well if it isn't tipsy pants." She rolled her eyes at his lame comment, and got a few laughs "Ha, ha, very funny." He walked over giving her a side hug, walking her to her cubby and staring at her as she put her stuff down.

"Thank you so much by the way. I am so sorry how horrible I was last night, but thank you for what you did."

He shrugged "You know I got you girl, but I didn't really do much."

She looked at him and narrowed her eyes "Okay, now I know you are humble..." he laughed noting the sarcasm "but even you can take credit for what you did."

He laughed but looked confused "No, really Ginny I'm being serious. Did Mike not tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Ginny stared super confused, and now a little scared as to what the hell happened last night.

"You were dancing, and this guy came up to you touching you really inappropriately and Mike got really angry, believe me I did too especially when I saw that you continually asked him to stop and he didn't, but Mike was up faster than I could blink and he pushed the guy off of you, Jack had to stop him from punching the lights out of him and getting arrested or worse...ending up on TMZ or some crap, you know? Luckily the guy backed off when he did, and Mike told me to take you outside so he could handle the rest. I did and then he came out quickly after telling us he was taking you to his place, he wouldn't have any questions...so the real hero is Mike, Gin."

Ginny stared with her mouth hanging open. Why did he lie to her? Did he not want her to know that he actually still cared for her? She bit her lip and smiled at Blip "Well, I definitely don't remember much about last night..."

Blip smiled "Well it was a night to celebrate, but is everything okay?" He eyed her with a worried expression clearly plastered on his face.

She nodded "It's fine."

"Well I don't believe you one bit, but I'll take your word for it, Evelyn wants you over tonight by the way."

She closed her eyes knowing she had to go out with Noah, she couldn't stand him up twice, not when she knew what Oscar would say if he knew she would be canceling on his period.

"I can't, I have this thing..."

"Ah, a date?" He could read her expression perfectly and she rolled her eyes at him when she saw that stupid grin on his face. "Get out of here, I have to change." She said pushing him out of the room.

He left her and all she could do was think of Mike, she had to fix this, fix everything with Mike, but how was she supposed to do that?

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Thank you guys! I keep seeing notices that you guys are following it and that makes me so happy. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and again if you want to see anything let me know. Thanks again!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Did I tell you how great you look tonight?" Noah said, smiling at her, making her feel super uneasy from the way he kept staring at her. If it wasn't for Mike, this guy would be perfect for her, and she hated that she was leading him on essentially because he was so incredibly nice and deserved more than what she could offer him.

She had gone on this date and decided to dress as casually as possible, still wearing a dress but not allowing it to seem like it could lead anywhere else besides this restaurant.

She had so badly wanted to talk to Mike about what Blip had admitted to her, she had seen Mike only once more before she left and she didn't get to talk to him considering that Blip was talking about how she was going on her date and making it worse with Mike as he pretended to not be paying attention to that.

Practice went by so quickly and hadn't even realized when it was time for her date.

She gave him a smile, hoping that it didn't come off anything but genuine. He had picked a really romantic restaurant that she hated even more due to him still continually being so sweet.

"You seem distracted," He said after a few minutes of silence, he looked a little hurt that Ginny's mind was elsewhere, she didn't want it to be, and she really hated that Noah could sense that.

"I'm so sorry, Noah, I just, the game and everything has been stressing me out more than normal."

He nodded "I get it, this couldn't have anything to do with Lawson, could it?" She shot up to stare at him, he looked even more disappointed when her face read it all. He sighed "Damn, I was kind of hoping I was wrong. You like him, don't you?"

She furrowed her brow, she was glad this restaurant was loud because he hadn't exactly whispered that last bit. She shook her head "It's not like that."

Noah nodded once more "I just don't see what you see in him. He's not a good guy, you know?" He looked at her stunned face and was taken back by this.

"How would you know that? Weren't you the one all starstruck the last time you saw him?"

Ginny could tell she was getting defensive and she knew it was mainly because she felt a sense of protection for Mike, not just because she did, in fact, feel for him more than just a friend but he was also her teammate and you protect your team. She knew she had to dial it down a bit, but him talking about Mike like that really irked her.

"I just mean." He stopped talking trying to find the words to not get her angrier "I see the way you look at him, I could see it at the Fall Gala, and I see your eyes sparkle every time you hear his name being mentioned...I don't think you deserve that. Nor do I." He sighed before continuing "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to upset you"

She could see the sadness behind his eyes, she knew she had treated him horribly this date, knowing it was because she was so frustrated at Mike, she grabbed the napkin and placed it on the table, taking her purse and looking at him. She was angry but because she knew he was right, she did have feelings for Mike and she was upset that he saw that clearly meaning she wasn't hiding it very well. "I think we should go." He nodded in agreement and they left, he drove her home and he parked the car in her driveway, but she didn't get out. "I'm sorry, I'll go to the other gala's with you, but I think we should keep this strictly professional"

She could see his eyes looked disappointed but he smiled regardless. She hated that she hurt him, she didn't want it to be that way, and she could tell he liked her more than what he had said which made it worse. She never meant for any of this to happen, including what she felt for Mike.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in 2 days." He gave her another smile, with that she got out giving him one last smile as well before walking away and hearing the car drive off.

She found herself calling an Uber and giving the driver Mike's address, she didn't know why or what compelled her to do that but she felt her blood start to boil and she needed to see him. She was angry, everything that Noah had said was true about how she felt about him and that made her more upset.

Luckily the drive went by fast and she got there pretty fast, she looked at the door and closed her eyes, she had not really decided on the drive what she would say to him, mainly because she just couldn't think straight. The knock was quick and she really hoped he was home.

The lock clicked and her heart started beating fast, the door opened to reveal a worried Mike staring back at her. She could tell he was getting ready to go to bed, he had his pajama's on and she wanted to giggle at the fact that he had on cute little reindeer pants. He saw the way she stared down at his pants and he looked a little embarrassed, but when he stared back at her bringing his full attention to her face, he looked angry.

"What are you doing here Baker?" He said quietly but with a stern tone.

"I need to talk to you." Her eyes were starting to glaze over with tears and she really didn't need to start crying, not now, not with Mike. She couldn't really deal if she did, in fact, start crying in front of him.

He saw the way she sniffled and she knew he could see that she was going to start to cry. He just walked to the side allowing her to walk past him, inviting her in.

She went in and into the living room, it was so big she wasn't even sure where to pick to sit down, or even start to pace because it felt like a 'pace' type of conversation. She felt his presence in the living room, and when she turned around to stare over at him, he had his arms crossed and a curious expression on his face as he was leaning against the wall.

"I need to say what I need to say, and you are just going to sit there and take it. Okay?" She said, now starting to walk back and forth and not looking over at him to get confirmation that he did, in fact, understand that.

"I had my date drop me off at my house early because they noticed how 'distant' I was." She looked over at him and saw that he was a little taken back "And for that, I am angry with you..." She started to cry, she could feel how much pent up anger and frustration she had built up from everything. "He said things that were...well they were true." She pushed her hair to the side, and she could see his worried look that this was only going to get worse "I hate that you have this control over me and you not wanting me in your life...that's not fair" She looked up at his face and then walked over to the couch.

She sat down and let out a sob, she couldn't believe her body was taking over her mind and not allowing her to do anything other than breaking down. If she wasn't so angry and upset she would be totally embarrassed by crying in front of Mike. She felt the couch softly move under her and noticed he had sat down next to her, their knees touching softly. His hand gently was placed on her back and he started to rub circles there, her body allowing for this to happen and relaxing at the motion.

She wanted to continue to yell at him, he deserved more, but she was exhausted. She couldn't stop crying, noticing Mike had started to quietly say "Shh, it's okay." which made her angrier because he was being so sweet.

"I'm sorry." He finally said, making her look to the side to stare at his face, he was staring at her completely and her heart beat faster than it had ever, meeting in the middle with butterflies soaring throughout her stomach. He leaned in, putting his forehead against hers, she closed her eyes and could smell him; he smelt wonderful, it was a mixture of cologne and leather from the glove, and for some odd reason that combination made her got crazy. Most girls would not like that smell, but she wasn't sure if it was because she loved baseball and had always been inclined to liking those smells or if it just reminded her of Mike.

"I'm scared, of the way I feel," Mike spoke but they both continued to have their eyes closed and their heads touching, his hands had now made their way to her hands that were on her lap. "That was partially why I wanted to leave."

"That was why I wanted you to leave too...but the bigger part of me didn't want you to-" her mouth stopped moving when his hands moved away from her hands, and went up to her neck, pulling her chin up and leaning down further so he could kiss her completely. Her mind went everywhere and she felt like it stopped literally from working. His kiss was filled with everything from passion to full on Shakespearian. His hands were on her back and pulled her in for a tighter kiss, making her let out a soft gasp.

He stopped the kiss which she wanted to curse at him for doing so, she didn't want it to stop, not now not ever.

She opened her eyes to see him staring at her, his eyes were intense and his smile made her go crazy. She could see he wanted to continue to kiss her more, but she knew without him saying anything that he wanted it to be slow. Not to mention they still had to talk about a few things, including how they were going to do this.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: You guys like I have mentioned are fantastic. Oh, I did want to mention that I'm so sorry if there are mistakes, re-reading some of my chapters I noticed I did, in fact, have a few mistakes I didn't go over. So if you see them, again I do apologize. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for taking the time to read my story.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Well, we can't tell the team," Ginny said, leaning over to reach for the pot of coffee that Mike was handing over to her. She poured herself a cup and saw that Mike nodded in agreement.

"We have to be careful in public," Mike said through half-chews of bacon.

Ginny had ended up staying in Mike's place last night after their knee-buckling, spine-tingling kiss which again Ginny was really disappointed it didn't continue longer but understood completely the reason that Mike had stopped, she knew that she would not be able to stop herself from going further if they did, in fact, continue kissing. He gave her the bed, and he stayed on the couch which she felt bad but she knew it was good he was a little far away under the circumstance. He woke her up with a kiss on the forehead which instantly gave her goosebumps and told her breakfast was ready.

They hadn't really had time to discuss whether or not they were exclusive or what their relationship status was, they had said a few things, but nothing that eluded to them not dating other people. She knew she didn't want to date anyone else, but she really couldn't read Mike's mind, he was so nonchalant this morning, but then he started mentioning a few things like how they had to be careful here and there, and that the press could definitely not find out, so she gave her two cents about it as well.

He sat back in his chair, still chewing on the last bit of that bacon and staring at her completely, making Ginny blush by accident and then smiled at her; that smile that made her just want to reach over and kiss him, but he said he wanted to go slow and she wanted to respect that.

He put his hand in the middle of the table and extended it, making Ginny smile out of habit, he wanted to hold her hand and that gave her butterflies. It was weird the little things that made her go crazy that he did, she was never like that with anyone and that part scared her a little. She reached over and took his hand, feeling the way he gently ran his finger along her fingertips and playing with her fingers, making her giggle at the way he would softly squeeze her pinkie finger.

His phone rang interrupting this moment, she cursed under her breath as he let her hand go and stood up to look at his phone that had been on the counter. Ginny could tell whoever or whatever that was, he was bothered by it, he sighed and answered it with a quick "yeah?" he looked like he wanted to lower his voice but that would look suspicious so he turned around to stare out of the small window he had on the top of his sink.

"Yeah, I have practice and then a few errands, but yeah I'll be there. Okay, bye." He hung up and turned to face Ginny, giving her a weak smile.

She didn't want to be an annoying girl, but she really was curious as to who that was that made him that squirmy. He sat down and gave her another small smile "that was Rachel" She saw the way he looked uncomfortable even talking about his ex-wife. He adjusted himself on the seat and grabbed his plate, he had been clearly not done with his food, but just the mention of her and he seemed to have to lost control of what he was doing. Ginny licked her lips and nodded "You okay?"

Mike stood up but turned around quickly and stared at Ginny, he had now on an annoyed look and sighed "Yeah, I'm fine. We should probably head into practice."

Mike left her sitting there staring at him. This was something she really didn't like about Mike and she wished he would at least try and change just a little and let her in, especially now that they were...whatever the hell they were. It wasn't like she was asking much, and hell he told her pretty much everything else, but when it came to Rachel he froze.

~0~

He drove her to practice, but he had dropped her off a little bit away so it wasn't obvious that he brought her in considering he never did that. He was already in his cubby by the time she got in, she received a few claps and she looked confused, staring at some of the guys who were sitting with a tablet. "Damn Ginny, you finally getting some? We were getting worried about you." He showed her the picture of her and Noah on a date that paparazzi had taken of them, she furrowed her brow to stare at the photo closer, she saw Mike and the way he narrowed his eyes at the photo.

"Ha, ha, so funny." She rolled her eyes at the guy and gave Mike a half-smile, he didn't return it and it would have hurt her feelings but considering what happened the night before and them saying they wouldn't discuss it period at work, well she understood.

They started practicing on the field, already warm and ready to go. Mike started with his usual speech getting a few laughs from the guys since they always carried on for a while.

"So I think we will start with Omar, Blip and I." He nodded towards them, and they nodded back at him.

"Don't you think it would be better to start with Livan?" Ginny interrupted, getting a few shocked looks from the guys and an even more pissed off face from Mike. She really didn't like being looked at that way by Mike, it was very different than the look he was giving her this morning and last night. She was only trying to help, but it didn't seem like that mattered to Mike.

"Excuse me, rookie?"

Blip gave Ginny a warning look as if trying to tell her not to mess with Mike.

"I just think it is a smarter move to..." She stopped talking when Mike gave her an even angrier glare.

"I must be mistaken, did I hear correctly Omar?" He turned to stare at Omar and he had on a face that read he wasn't mistaken, shaking his head. All eyes were on Ginny, which felt incredibly uncomfortable.

"Mike, I was only-"

"It's captain to you rookie, and if you speak out of turn again, you will be doing so many laps around this field that you will be regretting the moment you decided to speak out again. I am the captain of this team, and if you want to make any more suggestions you can bring them to me privately...but don't ever think that you know what is better than what I do for this team, do I make myself clear?"

Ginny felt her heart accelerate and she felt embarrassed and anger all at the same time. She couldn't believe that Mike would speak to her like that, even if she was a rookie especially in front of the guys, at first she thought maybe it was him trying to make it seem like they were far from romantic or that they didn't have feelings involved, but his face did not read that at all, which angered her even more.

"Yes, sir." She said and nodding, looking over at Livan who looked angry for her, and Blip who gave her an 'I'm sorry' look.

~0~

Practice finished quickly, and Ginny had decided best on not saying anything else, she really didn't want to call any more attention to anything at this point so she kept her mouth shut only opening it when Mike would call on her for something.

Mike had gone into the main room to get his protein shake done before he took a shower, as per his usual schedule so she followed him, closing the door and crossing her arms.

"Is that how this is going to be?" She said clearly, getting his attention as he turned around to look at her. His face was not clear as to what he was thinking.

"You want me to apologize?" He said, turning around and Ginny's eyebrows raised instantly.

"No, I don't need an apology, I just want to understand what the hell that was about?"

"You want to get what that was about?" He pointed towards where the field was "this is exactly why this is going to be impossible, you can never ever do that again, I meant everything I said out there, Baker."

She saw the way his mannerism's changed, he was acting as if they were still teammates and that last night never happened. She understood having to maintain the image that they were just teammates at work, but he still didn't have to act like an ass to her.

He sighed, seeing her expression "Just because we kissed Baker, does not mean you get to think it's okay to talk out of turn or that you think you know what is best for this team." he exhaled, she could see he had some pent up frustration and she wasn't sure it was all about her, but those words hurt regardless.

She narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head "Oh 'just because we kissed' are you kidding me Mike?" She shook her head "Fine, you got it captain." She nodded and left, she couldn't really keep looking at him, his words hurt more than she wanted to say. She heard a 'Ginny' before she left, but she really didn't need to deal with that right now.

She spent the rest of the work day practicing her fastball, only taking a break when she had to. She bumped into Mike twice and both times she just nodded at him and walked away, she could see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Oh hey Gin, a few of us are going to that new bar that they are opening up, want to come? They have your type of music?" Omar said, giving her a huge smile. She chuckled as he kept smiling, and she could see Mike was paying attention.

"Oh no, I actually am meeting Noah for some late coffee."

She got a few 'oooh's' and saw that Mike finally looked over at her. She laughed at Blip's look of excitement and rolled her eyes "It's not like that, I just have to go with him to an event and have to go over some things, but have fun tonight guys. I'll see you tomorrow."

She walked away, not turning to look at Mike, she wasn't sure she could handle his look. She was completely lying about Noah, but she felt like such a girl at that moment and wanted to piss Mike off, she knew it wasn't the most mature thing to have done, but if he wanted to keep acting like that, then she would allow him to do so, but then he couldn't get mad if she did so too.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Okay, so I'm so sorry but I was having THE hardest time with this chapter, I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with Bawson, but I kind of want to still have some drama, let me know what you think. Thanks again for following my story and reading it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Wait, so you and Mike..." Evelyn just looked at Ginny and had a huge grin on her face "you two are like a thing?"

Ginny took a sip of her beer and shook her head "Why do I even bother telling you anything when you will just assume what you want?"

Evelyn raised her brow "Am I assuming, though?"

Ginny chuckled "Yeah, well that's just the thing I have no freaking clue, for a guy who likes to talk a lot and say what is on his mind...he's not very good when it comes to his own feelings." Ginny sighed, she was still angry with what had happened with Mike, but she still had those feelings that just wouldn't go away.

She had not received any messages from Mike and that angered her more, she knew that he must be thinking she was with Noah when she wasn't because that was what she clearly said she was doing, but it still bothered her that he didn't care to call or text her, maybe he didn't care as much as she thought he did.

"You are just not used to that type of guy, Gin, but you have to give him a chance. Trust me, Blip has been playing with Mike for a while now and I can tell you that he thinks the world of Mike. I am sure that he wants to tell you what he feels, maybe he's just scared or isn't used to it. Give him some time."

"I think I blew it," Ginny said, running her hands through her tangled hair, pushing it to the other side. "I really like him, Ev, like a lot, and I want 'the talk' and when he didn't give it to me, I acted like such a girl."

Evelyn laughed, Ginny knew it was partial to do with the fact that she was acting exactly like that, but it was normal.

"Girl, just because you want a guy to express himself and feel the way you do, it isn't a bad thing. You are a woman, a strong one at that and you like to have the power, but it's not always going to be like that. You have to give him the benefit of the doubt and see where it leads you. You never know, he could really surprise you. & if you truly want to have 'the talk' then talk to him."

Ginny sighed, she knew everything she was saying was true, it just was hard to hear when she was still so angry with him.

"Well and then there is the whole issue with his ex-wife."

Evelyn raised her brow "Still? What now?" Blip had come home so many times talking about how Mike was so upset about something Rachel did, that it didn't really surprise her, it was just annoying.

Ginny shrugged "I don't know, I guess I just feel like when it comes to her, he doesn't talk to me about it."

"Well, do you blame him? That's awkward as hell. Maybe call him or go home and see what goes down with waiting."

Ginny nodded, she needed to digest some of this information and she wasn't sure drinking anymore would help that.

~0~

Ginny took an Uber home and was really tempted to give Mike's address instead of hers and surprise him, but she was still unsure what she would say to him, and she knew it would probably be best suited for a different night.

She was so exhausted, but her eyes grew wide as she turned the corner and on the foot of her door was Mike sitting down, he was staring at his phone and sitting really uncomfortable.

"Mike?" She stated, looking at him and making sure she wasn't hallucinating.

He stood up from where he sat, and she could see the worry in his eyes. He sighed when he noticed she was alone, she kind of put two and two together when she realized that he was half-expecting Noah to be there.

He looked at his phone, noticing the time and he seemed to be happy about that.

"What are you doing here?"

Mike sighed once more and stared into her eyes, she couldn't really read his expression, but he almost seemed relieved "I just wanted to apologize. I texted you a bunch of times..." he showed his phone "but I deleted them before I sent them."

Ginny furrowed her brow in confusion "Why?"

"I just couldn't really think up of what to say to you. I'm sorry didn't really seem enough, but I really am sorry, Ginny."

She stared shocked that he was using her name, it was nice to hear, but weird nonetheless.

"About which part?"

Mike just smiled back at her, and she smiled back. Pushing past him to unlock her door and holding the door open for him to come in. He followed quickly in and stayed by the door.

"I get it, okay? I needed to be more careful at work, but I feel like the way you spoke to me..."

"I know, and I really didn't think, I was just caught off guard. I don't know how to really do this Ginny."

"And you think I do? I have no idea how to even date."

"You seem to be doing pretty good for yourself," Mike said, swaying where he stood. He now looked to be jealous, and she knew he meant Noah.

She sighed "I didn't go on a date if that was what you are getting at."

Mike looked up to meet her eyes and she could see once again that relief behind those eyes. "Why did you say you were?"

Ginny shrugged quickly "I was angry with you, but I shouldn't have done that...I hung out with Evelyn instead."

Mike laughed and nodded "Well I guess I see why you did it, and I am sorry you had to do it."

He walked over to her, letting him place his hands softly on her hips, and leaving no space between them, he trailed his hands and placed them on the small of her back and pulling her in towards him, allowing her to grab onto the crook of his neck and interlock her fingers so she was holding onto him completely. "I promise that I won't speak to you like that again, especially in front of the guys...unless warranted." He chuckled when she opened her mouth in shock, but doing so playfully "as long as you promise to not lie about where you are going. Especially when it comes to other men."

Ginny pretended to be thinking about it "Hmm, that's a tough one. Well, I guess I can agree to that as long as you promise to try and open up more when it comes to how you feel."

He did the same as her, almost mocking her, but quickly smiling and nodding "I promise"

They stared at each other, and she could feel the electricity bouncing off of her and her body feeling like it was going to pass out from the intensity of his stare. He smiled at her, continuing to stare at her, swaying with her in place and leaning down finally and placing the softest kiss on her lips. She could feel the soft tickle she got from his beard gently pressing against her mouth and cheek and that cologne she loved so much was just intoxicating, making her mind turn to mush.

He broke the kiss and looked down at her, that look had so much power behind it and she hated that every time he did look at her it made everything just spin out of place.

"Will you go on a date with me?" Mike stared at her waiting for her answer.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Okay, so I wanted a short chapter to kind of get things going, hope you like and I will have another chapter up tomorrow. Enjoy lovelies and thank you for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Earth to Ginny, hello," Amelia said, waving her hand back and forth in front of Ginny's face, finally getting her full attention as Ginny shook her head, blinking and staring at Amelia's face that looked worried more so than annoyed. She crossed her arms and stood upright "What is with you today, you are more far than near."

Ginny just shrugged, she wasn't about to admit the reason she was so not in the present. Especially given that Amelia would not approve, not to mention that Amelia and Mike used to see each other so she wasn't sure how that would go over. "I just have a lot on my mind." Her phone beeped as Amelia continued to speak about how they had to go over some Nike stuff and appearances, she read the text seeing it was from Noah and she sighed, not really wanting to deal with it, she put the phone upside down but not before seeing "I know it's only professional but..." that's when she decided to just ignore it altogether.

"Okay, so that's okay?" Amelia spoke up and stared at Ginny who looked confused, making Amelia groan "Okay, I'm going to go get some more coffee and give you a break. I'll be back in 15 minutes, you better be ready to go over everything I just said, okay?" She pointed her finger at her, giving her a warning look and was off.

Ginny chuckled but flipped her phone back up to see that she had a text from Mike as well, feeling her stomach get excited from the mere thought of seeing a text from him. She looked away from her phone and her mind started racing with thoughts.

 _"So that's a yes, you will go on a date with me?" Mike teased, pulling his hands closer together on her back so she was completely enveloped on his body. Ginny teased back and shrugged "I might need convincing"_

 _Mike raised his eyebrow, making her instantly laugh from the way he looked almost excited to start convincing her "Is that so?" He leaned into her neck and started tracing a soft trail of kisses until he reached the lining of her mouth and gave her little pecks making her continue to laugh "Mmm, you won't regret it, I will have a full on meal prepped for you. Mike Lawson doesn't cook for just anyone..." He pulled back to stare at a flushed Ginny who seemed to be trying to collect her thoughts._

 _She sighed, and he could tell she was now in serious mode "I will go on a date with you if you tell me what we are." All her mind was thinking was the conversation she had with Evelyn, she told her to just talk to him and ask him about this, so she went for it. She could tell that Mike was very carefully placing his mind on where to take it from._

 _"Are we dating, are we buddies that sleep together..." She stopped talking when she saw him raise his eyebrow "I don't want to act like such a girl about this Mike, but..." She looked down, playing with the lining of his shirt on his neck, she was nervous and she really hated feeling this vulnerable in front of Mike, he swayed with her trying to get her to focus back on what they were talking about._

 _"But you want to define what this is?" Mike asked, knowing it was going to be a little bit harder for her to ask that question, but her mind started racing even more when she saw him sigh, that was definitely not a good sign. "I don't just hit it and quit it if that is what you are getting at Baker." She could see his eyes looked like they hadn't said the right thing but she knew where he was going with this. "What I mean is that I don't know, I can't tell you because I am not sure how to feel about us, it's more complicated because I have never dated a teammate before."_

 _Ginny laughed considering his teammates had always been men, but he was still avoiding the question and she hated that, she wasn't sure how the hell else to ask him that and he continued to not give her a complete answer, but she guessed that by him avoiding it was kind of like giving her an answer. She could tell he was getting worried since she was taking so long to answer because he cleared his throat._

 _"Okay, I get it, so we aren't exclusive then?" Ginny continued tugging on his shirt and he licked his lips making her eyes instantly look down at them wanting so badly to kiss him again. "Let's just go on that date and see where it takes us, huh?"_

 _"So you'd be okay if I kissed someone else?" Ginny said eyeing him and seeing his eyes shift "mmm, what if I kissed them like this?" She reached up and pulled him in for another kiss, allowing him to roam her body and as he reached the small of her back she pulled away to look at him and smiling as he was now the one that had been flushed. He shook his head and sighed "Nope, definitely don't kiss anyone like that."_

 _They both laughed._

Ginny's mind kept returning to that conversation because she was supposed to get together with Noah later for their next event and she had yet to tell Mike about it. She didn't want him to think she was doing it on purpose because she really wasn't...it just so happened that their next event was the same night they were supposed to have their date. It technically wasn't her fault, though, she got that text today from Noah...well this morning and she still hadn't replied.

She grabbed her phone and cup of coffee, walking to the trash and throwing the cup away before deciding best to go train for a bit and get her mind off of a few things.

She stopped mid-walk when she noticed Rachel talking to Mike, he was laughing at something she said and she had softly punched him in the stomach, she couldn't stop the feeling she got deep in the pit of her stomach which she knew not too well which was jealousy. She had usually never been a jealous person, most of her boyfriends...well the ones that actually were that didn't last long and there was nothing to be jealous about, but with Mike it was different; her feelings were too invested and seeing the way Rachel kept softly placing her hands on him made her angry. Before she had time to retreat, Rachel, spotted her and Ginny's eyes were met with Mike's who looked like he got caught in a lie. He looked down and then walked towards Ginny seeing as how Rachel was doing the same.

"Hi Ginny, were you training?" she pointed towards the sweat that was clearly evident on her forehead.

Ginny nodded "Yeah, got to work hard, you know?"

Rachel smiled and nodded back "Absolutely, hey, did you consider what I offered on the email I sent you?"

Ginny pursed her lips and her eyes shifted from Rachel's to Mike's who looked to be super uncomfortable, but she couldn't really read what was on his mind, she could tell he was trying to tell her something with his eyes, but it wasn't working. She shook her head "I haven't really had the time to really-"

"Oh gosh, I can imagine, I'm so sorry, it's just I would love to have you on there Ginny, I think you would be a terrific asset to one of my segments. Mike said the other night that you would probably be down for it."

Ginny cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes and then looking directly at Mike, who now seemed to be looking more terrified than anything. "Oh, Mike never mentioned anything," Ginny said, her voice growing more with anger and she was trying her hardest to hide it seeing as how she wasn't about to have his ex-wife sense something was going on.

"Well he's always been terrible at that, but it's okay, will you think about it at least?"

Ginny gave her a smile "Sure if you will excuse me I have to go."

"Oh before you go, Ginny, would you be willing to give me an exclusive with Noah Casey?"

Ginny stopped walking and turned to look at Rachel, and saw Mike's annoyed face staring back at Rachel. "She's not dating him, Rachel."

Rachel scoffed "Excuse me, I don't think I asked you, Mike. Ginny..." She looked back at Ginny giving her a warm smile "I would really appreciate it if you both went to lunch with me, hell we can make it a double date."

"Double date?" Ginny asked, but knew where this was going and she could tell that Mike already got there too.

"Yeah, you and Noah and Mike and I. Him and I had been discussing going on a date a few days ago and considering you and him are kind of seeing each other..." She stopped talking when she saw Ginny shift, clearly, the conversation was bugging her. "It can be off the record, I just would love to have an actual conversation with human beings." She joked, but Mike nor Ginny laughed.

Ginny just nodded "Yeah, I think I can make that happen." She shot a look at Mike as if warning him and walking away. She could sense that Mike was still staring at her and she had not been angrier with everything right now. What the hell was going on? She was supposed to go on a date with Noah and to top it off with Rachel and Mike.

The knock came quickly on her door after she had entered and as she opened it, Mike walked in pushing past her without getting an invitation. She stepped to the side to stare at him, and sighed, looking around to make sure no one saw and closed the door.

"What?" She asked, putting her hands on her waist and staring at him with the look that read the danger and she could see he knew she was angry.

"I'm sorry, that was not meant to-"

"Honestly Mike? You are so incredibly confusing, I get wanting us to be secret and not showing that we are anything to anyone, but what-"

He stepped forward, making Ginny instantly step back, he looked upset that she did but he stopped mid-walk knowing her limits.

"Just go, Mike. I guess I'll see you on this double date."

He opened his mouth but didn't say anything, dropping his head, walking past her, placing his hand gently on her arm, making Ginny close her eyes and with that he left.

She started pacing the room, why was he so confusing? She technically still hadn't told him that she had these events to go with Noah, but they were platonic and she told Noah where she stood, from the looks of it, he hadn't told that to Rachel that was why she was angry. How the hell they supposed to go on a double date when they hadn't even had their official date? She cursed under her breath.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Thank you guys so much, I keep getting people that are following it and putting it on their favorites list, that means the world to me, so thank you so much, everyone! I hope you like this chapter, you know I love drama so enjoy!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"So you do like me like that, huh?" Noah raised his brow and looked a little too eager. She rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him. "No, I just was put in an awkward situation, and she kept hounding me to get you on this double date, which by the way is totally not a date...but I do kind of need you to go with me." She said it all in one breath and exhaled, staring at Noah's grinning face.

He looked to be too amused with this, which made her more nervous about this whole thing. "I'll go, under one condition."

She was a little scared where he was going with this, but because it was Noah it was going to be something silly. "as long as you promise to wear that." He pointed at the white dress that draped over her bathroom door. She looked in the direction he was pointing at and immediately chuckled. "That's not something I would typically go out with."

"Ah ah," he raised his brow, and she turned to look at him "it's my condition if you want me to go, this you must do." He said it in a Yoda voice, causing Ginny to roll her eyes.

She sat down on the chair closest to her and pushed her hair out of her face. Noah was staring at her as he sat down next to her. "So does this all have to do with Lawson?"

Ginny turned her face quickly to meet his gaze that was ultimately telling her that he already knew the answer to that question. She bit her bottom lip and started picking at the hangnail she had on her index finger.

"I'm sorry, I know that it's not the best circumstance." Ginny eyed him carefully and saw that he didn't seem angry or upset, but he still seemed put out.

He did a half-nod but then turned his whole body to face her "Is he why you canceled on me tonight and had me come over to your room? You know, you didn't need him to invite me over to your place." He gave her a wink; he liked to tease a lot, but this time it seemed like he just wasn't sure of himself.

"So is he going on a date with his ex-wife?" He got a nod from Ginny confirming it and nodding quickly. "And he kissed you?" she nodded once more. "Man this guy is a piece of work."

Ginny shook her head "Look; I didn't invite you to bag on Mike, okay? I just wanted to explain myself and to have you understand the situation."

Noah just shrugged "I'm not bagging on him, Ginny, I just think he's a tool, and I believe that it's unfair that he is stringing you along in hopes of a possible relationship, but he doesn't even know what he wants."

Ginny stood up; she once again went into defensive mode even though everything he was saying was true. The knock interrupted her thoughts, and what she was going to say to Noah about Mike.

She walked over and opened it slightly to reveal a worried Mike that was staring back at her. She turned around to look at Noah who seemed to be curious who that was, but she didn't open it enough to show either party which was behind the other door. She pointed her finger at Noah as if saying 'hold on' and stepped outside, pulling Mike to the side. "What do you want?" she asked with a stern and angry tone.

Mike looked hurt by her tone, but nodded, placing his hands in his jean pocket. He looked fantastic, but that was beside the point, and she tried her hardest to ignore that fact because she was still so angry with him.

She didn't need him to speak to smell the alcohol that was clearly present on him. She sighed sensing he must have been drinking and then thought it was best to come and talk to her.

He looks fantastic, and she hated that even as angry as she was with him, it didn't change the fact that she found him so irresistible.

"I tried calling and texting, but you didn't respond, so I was..." he stopped mid-sentence and looked down to the ground, "I was worried," he admitted and met her eyes once again "I'm sorry, I should have told you-"

"Mike stop." Ginny interrupted him unsuccessfully.

"When it comes to you, I just don't know what to do...you look wow, you look beautiful." He briefly scanned her up and down, and she could feel her cheeks flushing knowing that this was his alcohol intake talking.

"Stop." She moved forward and put her hands on his shoulders, and watching as he stared at her fully and looked down at her lips. "I will get you a room, but you need to sleep it off." Ginny wanted to let him continue saying whatever it was that he had on his mind because she figured 'drunk Mike' would probably say more than his regular self, but she didn't find that fair.

So instead she told him to hold on as Ginny went to get her coat, which was her telling Noah that she had to take someone home real quick.

She sat Mike down and told him to stay acting as if he was a dog; he did as she instructed him to do and watched as she walked back in her room.

Noah was looking down at his phone and stared at her with hesitation as she emerged. "Hey, I have to go somewhere, I am so sorry, I was the one that called you over here, but this can't wait. I'll text you, okay?" She saw his sad face as it dropped, but he nodded regardless.

"Can you wait 5 minutes before you exit." Ginny turned as she grabbed her coat, and saw the way he stared puzzled. She gave him a quick smile before returning to where she left Mike, sure enough, he was still sitting where she left him.

His hands had now been firmly placed on his forehead as he slouched down, it looked like he was going to throw up, but it was just the way he sat. She put her hand on his back and whispered 'let's go' and she did her best to help him up, almost unsuccessfully but it worked as he stood up and she led the way.

The elevator ride was exciting that was for sure, he wouldn't stop mumbling at how her jeans were making him go crazy and continuing to say 'damn, you look mighty fine.' she just nodded along with him since that seemed to be the only thing that worked right now to calm him.

She called Amelia before exiting the elevator, and she was thankful she was staying in this hotel too as she met her in the 2nd-floor lobby.

"Oh thank God," Ginny said, waving Amelia to hurry up. Amelia stared back and forth and opened her mouth, closing it and opening it again but nothing came out "What the hell is going on?" She said looking at how Mike was continuing to mumble words that made no sense.

Ginny gave her a wry smile, but she didn't need to say much for Amelia to sigh and say "Well, I guess I can see why you called me. I can just imagine the media tomorrow if they saw him like this, they would have a field day. So he just needs a place to crash?" Amelia continued staring at Mike and widening her eyes as he put his hands inside Ginny's jean back pocket, apparently copping a feel. Ginny's eyes grew wide too, but she just patted Mike on the shoulder and Amelia gave her a weird look.

Ginny could tell she wanted to say more, but she just gave her a quick smile "Okay, well he can stay in my room."

Ginny shot her a look and hoped that it wasn't obvious that she didn't like that idea. "Um, no offense Amelia but I don't think him waking up in your room would be a good idea."

She hoped that didn't come off as possessive as it sounded "he can't stay in my room because I have company over."

Amelia's eyes grew wider once more "Ooh Noah, huh?"

Ginny could tell Mike was now paying attention, and she hoped he would not remember that tomorrow "uh huh." not wanting to say much more than that. She was lying, Noah was technically in her room, but he was leaving so Mike could stay in hers, she just could not imagine what that would like the following morning, so she thought best against it.

Amelia sighed, seeing that Mike was looking worse and worse "I'll go get him a room, I'll call you with the number and send up the card, okay?"

"Thank you so much, Amelia." Ginny saw as Amelia shook her head but smiled, this was not part of her job, but she did it without questions asked.

"You have the most amazing skin." she shot him a warning look and was thankful that Amelia wasn't here to hear him say the stuff he was saying to her. His hand still inside her back pocket, every so often his hand would shift a little making it a little harder to not want to lean over and kiss him.

The card for his room came with a young guy that showed up 5 minutes later, and she didn't know how Amelia did the stuff she did in such a quick manner. The guy didn't say a word, handing the card over and giving her a nod before leaving. She just shrugged and noticed it was on the 3rd floor, luckily a floor below hers so she knew there might not be a chance to run into Noah and was glad when she made it to his room without any hiccups.

This whole situation with Mike was almost becoming routine at putting him together again when it came to him drinking.

She sighed as she helped him into the bed and stared as he said a few more inappropriate things and then quickly drifted to sleep.

Grabbing a glass of water and placing it on the desk next to his bed, she grabbed his phone out of his pocket and set the alarm on there and put 2 Ibuprofen next to the water. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead; she wasn't sure what possessed her to do so, but seeing him sleep peacefully was enough.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Okay, so I hadn't expected to write another chapter so soon after that one, but I just felt the need to write. Hope you enjoy and as always thanks again!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

She hadn't slept anything, her mind continually going back to Mike, throwing her phone in the air and catching it, looking at the screen, running her hands through her hair, quickly scanning her phone before placing it down reading '7:00' on the screen.

That meant that she had 5 hours before their lunch 'date' would be happening.

She grabbed onto her stomach when she felt the feeling of hunger hit her; she decided just to table her thoughts and get breakfast. Pulling on her favorite black and red leggings and her over-sized hoodie on, matching it with her go-to black hat, putting her phone in her pocket and walking out.

She was kind of glad to get out of that room; it was driving her crazy, and the thoughts of Mike all swirling in her head didn't help.

Ginny stopped walking as she saw Mike sitting in one of the corner tables, drinking coffee and looking out the window onto the field. He had on shades and his blue flannel shirt that made him resemble a lumberjack, a sexy lumberjack at that.

She wasn't sure if she should just turn around and walk the other way, going out to eat instead of here at the hotel, but he spotted her before she could make her escape. He froze as he looked her way, he placed his coffee down and cocked his head to the side. He waved his hand over for her to come over.

Ginny contemplated whether it was a good idea or not to go over there, on the one hand, maybe it was a good idea especially because they had lunch in a few hours and they could discuss what they could and couldn't say.

On the other hand, it also just seemed to be teetering on the danger side. Ginny sighed as she felt the white flag go up in her brain and decided best just to go over there. Plus considering it was Mike, he wouldn't let it go if she did just walk away.

"So, you hung over?" Ginny said, raising her eyebrow and laughing as he took his glasses off and looked like hell but shaking his head. She sat down and stared at the coffee in front of him.

They stayed silent for a bit, but she could see Mike eyeing her and ready to say whatever it was on his mind.

"How bad was I?" leaning back against his chair to get more relaxed, folding his arms and staring back trying to find the answer.

"Can I get anything for you?" They stared back at the waitress as she looked back and forth between them. "Whatever he's having, and eggs please; scrambled."

Ginny cleared her throat and felt the uncomfortable tension that was clearly evident just as they sat in silence. "You weren't bad; it was okay." She lied through gritted teeth because she had so much more to say, but she just wasn't sure if she was ever going to say it.

"Did I interrupt something last night?" She could see the way his eyes scanned her whole body as he said this trying to read her every move; it was very intimidating.

She raised her brow, giving a smile to the waitress as she brought out the eggs and coffee, and coughing as she took a sip of it. "What the hell is in that?" grabbing her water and quickly chugging some down to mask the aftertaste.

Mike laughed as he saw her struggling to hide it, grabbing the so-called coffee and taking another gulp in front of her, almost as if he was teasing her. "It's bulletproof coffee."

"Well, they have the bullet part correct." Ginny wiped at her mouth with the napkin in front of her and placed it on her lap.

Once again it was silent, but thankfully not awkward which she was happy about, "So this lunch date, huh?" Ginny finally spoke up, taking a few bites of her eggs and noticing just how empty her stomach was.

"It's not date, Ginny..." he mumbled those words but still managed to keep staring at her "I never wanted to go on this stupid thing in the first place, but it got kind of awkward, and I didn't want you to be angry with me."

Ginny just sighed, she hated being mad at Mike and last night confirmed that he clearly didn't either.

"I'm not upset, at least not anymore," she bit her lip and saw that he was listening very intently to every word she was saying "I just don't like the fact that I'm in this...whatever this is of ours, and it feels like you aren't."

"I am, Ginny..." He leaned in, looking around to see if anyone was staring or could hear them, but the only other person in this restaurant was the manager that was apparently taking a break, and they had their head very much on their phone. "I am in this too, I just don't know how to do any of this; I know women, and I know how to be with the ladies, but for some reason with you, it's just hard."

Ginny scoffed "and not because you are my teammate." He corrected himself, which she knew meant he was aware that where she was going with this. "You're different than any girl I've been with, and it's scary to me." He sighed. "I don't want to screw it up with you." He looked down as if he was embarrassed, but little did he know Ginny's heart was beating so fast and all she wanted to do was reach over and kiss him.

"Wow."

He chuckled at her response and shook his head "Not gonna make fun of me?"

She shook her head "What I want to do is not appropriate in this restaurant."

Mike swallowed hard, and she could see his cheeks turn red as she said that last bit, and it was fun to see him be the one to get flushed for a change.

"You look good when you are squirmy." She shifted in her seat to get a better angle at him, and he laughed as she continued staring at him.

"Can I get you anything else?"

Ginny was thankful that the waitress walked in on time because they both looked ready to push this table out of the way to not leave any room in between them. They both shook their heads and laughed as she was out of earshot, hoping she didn't sense the sexual tension that had replaced the awkward one not too long before this.

"So I really should go, I have to make sure I'm ready for this thing on time. I got to get this hair under control."

Mike stood up as Ginny did and he shook his head, he placed his hand gently on her back and leaned in closer to her, their shoulders touching "You look fantastic, I'll see you at 12." He walked passed her and grabbed onto her hand and letting go as quickly as he had taken hold of it and she watched as he exited the room, her goosebumps on the back of her neck stood on end. Damn.

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Thank you guys so much! I'm so sorry that I took a bit to get this chapter out there, and I know it's on the short side, but I promise I will have the next one up very very soon. Enjoy!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Wow, you look..." Mike stopped talking as he noticed Ginny make a face trying to tell him that Rachel was just a few feet behind her. She felt her cheeks flush from the way he continued to stare at her in her black flowing dress.

She had accidentally run into Rachel as she was coming inside, but was happy it was short-lived since she had to take a call allowing for her to continue inside.

"Oh thank god, the drive here was incredibly horrendous, so I'm happy to see faces I like," Rachel said, not acknowledging either of them as she continued rummaging through her purse, which Ginny took this time to give Mike a smile.

"So where is your hunky date, Ginny?" Rachel said, finally looking up to stare at Ginny with interest.

Mike sighed and rolled his eyes, but not so that Rachel could see it; Still scoffing this time getting Rachel's attention, but Ginny gave him a warning look, she looked back to Rachel who was now looking at Mike as if she was offended by what he just did.

"Oh, he texted he would be here in about 5 minutes, he was also running late with traffic, shall we sit?" Ginny hoped that would ease some tension away.

They all nodded in agreement and walked towards their table; she was glad that they picked a restaurant that seemed to be almost empty minus a few business-type people that were clearly here to close business deals just by their weird grins.

She felt goosebumps as Mike's hand slid between hers and softly pressed her hand, letting go so no one would notice. He looked great as per usual, dressing in a black dress shirt and slacks, which made him look the opposite of a catcher, it was weird how he could dress up so well.

They ordered drinks and sat in silence for what felt like a while, but was only a good 5 minutes. Rachel cleared her throat to make it less awkward and looked at Ginny with interest once again.

"So Ginny, tell me all about yourself."

"Oh no, please let's talk about someone other than me." Ginny gave a warm smile as she said these words, she wasn't in the mood to discuss her personal life, especially in front of Mike's ex-wife. "What about you?"

"I'm sorry I'm late." Noah interrupted and had all eyes on him, with Mike's sharp dagger eyes staring back at him. He gave Mike a pat on the shoulder getting an annoyed look from Mike not taking notice, and shook Rachel's hand, greeting her with ease and then leaning down to kiss Ginny on the cheek.

Ginny caught Mike's eyes and noticed just how annoyed he looked; she kissed him back and saw Rachel's smile plastered on her face.

"It's nice to meet you all, well officially anyway," Noah said, sitting down and grabbing his napkin, getting comfortable in his setting and giving Ginny a warm smile.

"So you were saying?" Ginny asked, knowing that Rachel hadn't said anything.

Rachel stared back at Mike and sighed "It's just nice to be out here with Mikey, I haven't had a chance to sit down with him much lately."

'Mikey' Ginny nodded towards Mike, stifling as a laugh as he rolled his eyes back at her.

Noah nodded, staring back and forth between everyone. He placed his hand on top of the one that Ginny had on the table next to him and received Mike's eyes instantly. Ginny inhaled, hoping that this lunch would go by super quickly. She moved her hand away from Noah's; she knew what he was doing, and clearly, Mike did too.

Noah stared at Ginny looking a little amused but also a little hurt.

"So how long have you two been dating?"

Mike scoffed even louder than he had before catching everyone's attention. "Will you leave them alone?" Mike asked, moving the water glass around on the table in front of him not staring at Rachel's clearly visible upset face.

"Oh I'm sorry Mike, I didn't realize I had specific questions I could ask them. They are dating, no?"

"No, actually we are not..." Ginny said, but her voice overlooked by Rachel turning her body to stare completely at Mike now.

"Why are you acting like this?" Rachel stated in a hushed tone.

"Nothing, just drop this, let's just eat and get this over with."

"Mike," Ginny said making Noah and Rachel turn their heads towards her and then back at Mike.

Mike groaned and nodded "I'm sorry." He said quietly but enough so the 3 of them could hear him.

Noah raised his eyebrow and took a sip of his water, Rachel, however, looked unimpressed, crossing her arms. She was known for keeping her cool even under pressure; it was interesting to see her this annoyed.

The silence followed shortly after and it was clearly evident that this lunch was not going to get any better. Rachel looked at Noah who continued to smile but was also uncomfortable sitting there with his cup in his hand.

"So how long have you been married?" Noah finally spoke making everyone still feel uneasy, especially with that question.

"We're not actually," Rachel said and shrugged as if it was nothing. Noah nodded back in understanding. "I don't know, Mike and I always worked better when we were apart honestly. We even talked about possibly having kids after our divorce." She laughed but got the only response from Noah.

Ginny could feel the annoyance creeping in, and she was trying her hardest to fake being interested in what Rachel had to say about Mike.

Ginny hated that feeling; her possessiveness going into overdrive and wanting to leap over this table to tell Rachel to her face that Mike was off limits, but that seemed a bit too drastic.

Mike gave Ginny a look that read he didn't care for what she was saying, but Ginny just felt even more annoyed as he stared at her and she could see he noticed her look.

Rachel turned her attention to Ginny, then looked at Mike and back at Ginny.

Ginny felt her cheeks instantly turn red from the way she was staring, it was as if she figured the puzzle out but hadn't said anything.

"Are you kidding me?" Rachel finally broke the silence making everyone jump a little from the way it echoed across the table.

Mike furrowed his brow but raised them shortly after noticing where she was staring and it was clear what she was indicating.

"No, no," Ginny said, but that was not enough. Ginny had never seen someone get up so quickly in her life; it kind of scared her.

Mike groaned and called out for her but no luck, deciding to go after her. He couldn't allow her to say anything, because even though he knew she was better than that he still didn't want her to air this out, he was aware that she could be sensitive when it came to him and other women.

"Wow, that was something else, huh?" Noah said, not getting a laugh from Ginny who felt incredibly horrible. "I'm going to go," Ginny said, standing up and putting her hand on his shoulder "I'm sorry."

 **TBC...**

 **A/N: Okay so it took me FOREVER to come up with this chapter, I really couldn't figure out where I wanted to go with this lunch date thing and so it became so much pressure for me to make it just perfect. Hope you enjoy and thank you so much** for reading and following!


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